Common Contracts

Software Maintenance in a Service Level Agreement: Controlling the Customers Expectations

May 21st, 2004

• Filed
  May 21st, 2004

Software maintenance constitutes an important part of the total cost of the lifecycle of a software application. Some even argue this might be the most important fraction of the cost (50-80 % according to Tony Scott, 75% according to Rand P. Hall, 60% Freedman). The added value of software maintenance is often not perceived by the customers. While the introduction of a new software application clearly shows new benefits, the work being done to maintain an existing application is usually only apparent when the application breaks down or small changes are being implemented (which sometimes also causes some downtime). This results in a negative perception of the software maintenance section. A proposed approach to turn this around is to provide the customer with insights in the activities performed by the maintenance section and to come to a clear agreement on the results and expectations of these activities.